High School Sports

Girls soccer: Perry tops Sandra Day O'Connor in shootout

Perry's girls soccer team could use a couple days off before it continues on in the Division I state tournament.

Perry put in an extra 20 minutes and a shootout to finally knock off upset-minded Sandra Day O'Connor, 4-3 OT (PK 3-1) at Perry's John Wrenn Stadium.

"Good teams find a way to win," Perry coach Jason Dunn told his team after the victory. "We survived."

Perry (12-5-2), the No. 3 seed, advances to the quarterfinals on Saturday (Feb. 8) where it faces No. 6 Basha at Perry HS. Basha played two overtime periods, but managed to avoid a shootout with a 1-0 win over Highland. Perry has won 10 matches in a row and Basha has won its last eight in succession. Sandra Day O'Connor closed out its season with a solid 16-4-1 record.

Sandra Day O'Connor's leading scorer Anna Goebel, blanked for 97 minutes, came through in the clutch in that 97th minute by drilling her 28th goal of the year from 25 yards out. That bought SDO a shootout after Perry had scored two minutes earlier off a corner kick.

In the shootout, SDO's Savannah Tidd converted the first PK of the shootout and Perry missed its first. Makenna Dunn evened things for Perry after two PKs each. SDO missed its third attempt and Perry's Kambree Meskill put her team up 2-1 converting hers.

Goebel stepped up next for SDO to try and even it the shootout again, but her shot was deflected and cleared before it could cross the goal mouth by Perry keeper Carly Sandstedt. Perry wrapped up the shootout with Lauren Hawley's conversion on Perry's fourth PK.

"That's high school soccer," Jason Dunn said. "When you get to the best 16 teams there are no easy games. They proved they were a very worthy opponent coming back like they did."

Perry, which trailed 1-0 at halftime thanks to a goal in the 15th minute by SDO's Marisa Ortiz, continued a relentless attack as it did the first half in the second half. Perry outshot SDO, 13-5, in the opening half and was close to outshooting the Eagles by a three-to-one margin for the game.

Perry tied the match at 1 on a penalty kick by Makenna Dunn. SDO was called for a holding foul in the box. A minute later Perry took a 2-1 lead as Renjae Burch tallied off a throw in by Dunn.

SDO came out of defense mode in the final minutes trying to tie the match. SDO was rewarded as its persistence earned it a fould call in the box for a PK in the 79th minute. Ilyssa Ruzan converted to bring on overtime.

Neither team scored in the first 10-minute overtime period, but Meskill tapped home a corner kick from Dunn in the 95th minute for what looked to be the game winner.

Showing its resolve, SDO managed to get Goebel the ball and she tied the things a final time with a rocket shot.

Perry was the only team in its section to beat Basha this season, but Basha ended up winning the section after Perry suffered a loss and a tie in section play.